A/N: I'm also posting the story under the same name at ScribbleHub. If you prefer, you can switch there.
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Ryusei greeted Okabe with a polite smile, and Okabe returned it with his usual gentle nod. But his attention wasn't really on him.
His eyes drifted past him almost immediately, toward the small cluster of Uchiha police officers he had left behind at a short distance.
His attention then fixed on the girl at their head, young, striking, and clearly unsettled, her oversized uniform unable to dull the presence she radiated.
Okabe remembered the whispers. The "rising star of the Uchiha Police Force."
In just four months since graduating, she had brought down high-profile criminals with sheer strength and solved difficult cases with a sharp mind.
The youngest squad captain in the Force's history, a story on everyone's lips. And, if the rumors were true, a granddaughter of one of the clan's most powerful elders.
And yet here she was, moments ago, standing in a seemingly very close or even intimate conversation with… Ryusei.
'I should have walked more slowly,' Okabe thought, irritation flickering beneath his calm exterior. 'If I'd observed from the shadows, I might have learned more before Ryusei noticed me.'
Still, the sight alone was enough. 'In any case, I'll report this the moment we return. This is a… noteworthy development.'
His expression softened into the same gentle smile he always wore, but his mind was sharp.
This was exactly why he had been tasked with monitoring the boy. And the more unusual findings and field reports he collected on Ryusei, the greater his reward and his weight in his superiors' minds would be when the time came.
Ryusei, meanwhile, also smiled to himself, a smile layered with meaning. He knew exactly what kind of risks this encounter carried, but there had never really been a choice.
The moment she spotted him, the sight had probably already been noted and reported upward. If others were going to see them as "connected," then it was better to shape that perception into something useful.
In truth, even if Kiyomi hadn't been the one to find him today, he would have engineered an "accidental meeting" type reunion sooner or later.
He had thought of it the moment he first combed through the original Ryusei's memories of Academy life and her.
Her identity was a resource, one that the old Ryusei had been too stupid, too timid to use.
That mistake would end here. The current Ryusei would correct it.
And judging from how this exchange had gone, it was already off to a good start.
'She probably had a far deeper impression of him than he expected,' he mused inwardly. 'And far more complicated.'
It wasn't pure disdain, the way Kanae Hyūga had treated the original Ryusei.
No, with Kiyomi, it was curiosity and that sharp-edged teasing pride, not outright rejection.
And with only a few carefully placed remarks, he had shifted their relationship closer already. He could feel it.
It wasn't just the "mystery" he unconsciously projected that drew her attention, probably.
His looks played their part too, easily the best in the Academy and beyond.
With a tall, broad-shouldered father and a strikingly pretty mother, it was only natural that he turned out well.
Back then, he'd received dozens of love letters and confessions, though the original Ryusei had politely ignored them all.
At their age, as long as a girl was even slightly normal, curiosity was inevitable.
Maybe even the fact that the original Ryusei hated Kiyomi inwardly, which she sensed somehow, while every other boy fawned over her, had piqued her interest.
It also made him further stand out to her, whether he wanted to or not.
The current Ryusei reached these conclusions based on a few simple truths.
Uchiha were shown to be somewhat arrogant, yes, but more than anything, indifferent.
When did you ever see them go out of their way to constantly pick at someone they considered 'beneath' them?
In their minds, why would they continue to waste effort stepping on some 'ant'?
Yet Kiyomi had done exactly that for years.
Out of the entire Academy, she had singled out the original Ryusei, initiating contact only with him occasionally, whether through mocking, attempted bullying, or sharp remarks, while treating everyone else with the usual Uchiha detachment.
That spoke volumes to the current Ryusei.
In his mind, it was also impossible to equate female and male personalities in any world, even if they were of the same clan.
The way she treated the original owner could be seen as the seed of a distinctly female Uchiha response, the first signs of how they act once someone catches their attention.
So the potential for rapid progress was already in place.
Not everyone was as damaged as Kanae Hyūga, whose coldness and shadows clearly stemmed from her past and the suffocating hell of the Hyūga side branch.
Kiyomi, on the other hand, had been raised like a pampered princess, protected and praised from birth.
It was obvious which type would be easier to draw closer, although he had plans for both eventually.
Of course, neither of them was there yet, not even Kiyomi truly. Not by a long shot. But Ryusei was patient.
For example, with Kanae, it wasn't enough to simply be there. You had to work for it, prove 'sincerity' through real, tangible changes in her life. Presence alone would never be enough to break that ice.
Although Ryusei refused to associate with the beaten-down remnants of the Senju, little more than strays at this point, that didn't mean he believed only in personal strength and ignored everything else.
Strength was the core, yes, but power alone wasn't enough. Without allies, leverage, and influence, he couldn't break out of his current predicament, let alone rise in this world.
So, who was the most logical and powerful ally for him right now? The answer was obvious: the Uchiha.
Senju-Uchiha rivalry? Ryusei wasn't stupid enough to think in such childish, binary terms.
Both clans had long since been suppressed under Konoha's "unitary" system. As long as he raised his own value and gathered bargaining chips, any Uchiha with a working brain would see the benefit of cooperation rather than rejection.
The second-best choice would be the Hyūga. On paper, they were natural allies, the other great clan constantly being pressed down by the Hokage's faction.
But the more Ryusei studied them, the more disappointing they seemed. Decades of passive, almost self-destructive behavior.
Time and again, letting the Hokage trample them, turning the other cheek without even attempting resistance, never once joining forces with the Uchiha, despite being the only other clan with similar grievances.
Were they truly that decadent and shortsighted?
Or was there some hidden reason behind it, something outsiders couldn't see?
After all, the Hyūga did survive all the way into the "end of the series" intact, never having to restructure as Naruto promised to Neji and remove those degenerate practices, and were later revealed to know more about the world than they ever let on, even more than some Hokage.
That hinted at the depth Ryusei couldn't ignore. Still, in the short term, he doubted they could be convinced as easily as the Uchiha.
He felt he would first need to "shake them up a little" before convincing them, and for that, he needed insiders first, and Kanae would be the fitting first step in that process, branch family or not.
Of course, all of this was still little more than a distant plan. For now, Ryusei was still a small fish, a shrimp daring to imagine maneuvering among sharks. But that didn't stop him from laying the first stones.
And as for the Uchiha, by "getting" Kiyomi, he was already halfway there. The rest was simple: grow stronger, gather chips, and make them an offer they couldn't refuse.
Kiyomi Uchiha. Granddaughter of Great Elder Nobukata, leader of the Hawk Faction.
Her status placed her just beneath the patriarch Fugaku, and with Fugaku's heir, Itachi, only just born, she was effectively the clan's most visible young talent.
And talent she had in abundance. At twelve, she already stood at high chūnin level, with a two-tomoe Sharingan and the strength to back it up.
She had risen swiftly in the past four months, promoted to squad leader in the Uchiha Police Force and commanding a team of five older men who respected her without question.
In other words, she wasn't just some pretty face in uniform. She was a legitimate rising star, the kind of genius produced only once in a generation, even among the great clans.
Not an Itachi-level monster, not a Madara or Hashirama, but firmly within the top tier of clan-born prodigies.
Actually, something like the original owner, too; they were on a similar level.
Her background also mirrored Ryusei's in key ways, not only their talents, but also their pedigrees within their separate great clans.
Both came from prominent lineages, more precisely second strongest, within their clans, tied to hardline factions that often clashed with the mainstream and the patriarch's line.
The difference was that Kiyomi's faction still stood strong, while Ryusei's had already been all but destroyed.
All in all, securing her interest meant securing a path into the very heart of the Uchiha.
Also, don't be fooled by how "minor" she might seem right now.
Who could say what her personal power ceiling, utility, or influence within the clan might become in the future as she got way older? She might even surprise him, for example.
Not to mention, Ryusei could take her even further than whatever upper limit she might have on her own, letting her reach her fullest potential without obstruction - if she trusted him.
He wasn't even sure if she died during the Uchiha Massacre or earlier in the war. Either way, her bloodline and position could be molded by him into something even greater, perhaps.
Therefore, even on her own, she was already a valuable contact to have and try to develop.
***
Meanwhile, Ryusei kept up a casual exchange with Okabe, polite questions about his 'recovery', whether he was truly 'ready' for the mission, and other seemingly sincere small talk that 'any' sensei would ask his student.
It went on for half a minute, maybe a little more, just enough to look natural.
Then, from behind, he finally sensed Kiyomi snapping out of her earlier "trance."
Her chakra flared with irritation as she marched off in an exaggerated huff next, her five subordinates scrambling after her almost comically to keep pace.
Ryusei couldn't help but find the whole dynamic funny.
But, unlike him, she never had to hide her high Chūnin-level strength, her ambitions, or the means to back them up.
With the Konoha Police practically serving as the Uchiha's private force and her lineage placing her near the top of the clan, it hardly mattered even if she was actually incompetent; no one would dare block her rise if she wanted the position, no matter how young or fast.
"She was furious… lucky for me, this dog was still here, so she didn't dare lash out, haha,"
Ryusei thought, glancing at Okabe. He had shown up at just the right moment.
Otherwise, once the 'potion' effect he fed her wore off, she might have really attacked him, and then he might have been forced to show a bit of his true strength.
That was, at least if he didn't continue to actively keep her trapped in that daze for longer.
And soon enough, after a few minutes, Renjiro and Kanae arrived, right on time, not a step early, not a step late.
Renjiro came striding in from one side, looking like he'd just finished a warm-up, while Kanae appeared silently from the opposite direction.
Renjiro gave a short nod toward Okabe, then smirked at Ryusei. "Still alive, huh? Guess the rumors were wrong." His tone was cold, but there was a flicker of amusement.
Kanae's eyes lingered on Ryusei for a second longer than necessary, as if measuring him again, then she spoke in her usual flat tone.
"You don't look like you're exaggerating anymore." It was as much of a greeting as she ever offered, though in her stiff way, it almost counted as concern.
Okabe smiled faintly, stepping into the space between them before the exchange could get thornier. "Good. Everyone's here. That saves me the trouble of rounding you up."
Ryusei wore his narrow-eyed smile, just enough to seem harmless while hiding his amusement.
He hadn't needed to say a word; their greetings alone told him everything he wanted to know.
"Let's head to the Mission Desk then," Okabe said calmly, and without wasting words, he turned toward the building.
The three of them followed, their footsteps falling into place behind him as they slipped inside.